As we have been reading and discussing "Mules and Men" the geographic and general image of Eatonville, FL (where some of the book takes place / as well as where the author is from) all has been in the back of my mind. So I thought we can utilize the WIKI for some imagery and general information about the town (add more if you come across anything).
Many of the photos attached (the black and white) are of Zora and her time in Eatonville.
Obviously it is much different now...but cool photos, links, and random info:
Here is a great bit from the NPR, you will have to download the song Zora sings.
Kennedy traveled throughout Florida with another recordist, famed Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston. Together they visited places like the turpentine camps near Cross City and the Clara White Mission soup kitchen in Jacksonville. Hurston's book Men and Mules is about her travels gathering folklore in Florida.
The Jim Crow laws forced Stetson and Hurston to travel separately -- he is white, she was black, and they couldn't legally work together. "You could get killed lighting someone's cigarette," Kennedy told Golding. "Or shaking hands -- both colors, white and black."
The Library of Congress recently made a wealth of recordings and pictures from the project available online. Kennedy has been called "one of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century," and his work is a keystone of the library's presentation.
The project eventually documented folktales, life histories, superstitions and the religious and secular music of African-American, Arabic, Bahamian, British-American, Cuban, Greek, Italian, Minorcan, Seminole and Slavic communities throughout Florida.
One Kennedy recording testifies to how the project was welcomed by those who contributed their music or voices. "Dear Lord, this is Eartha White talkin' to you again," one recording begins. "I just want to thank you for giving mankind the intelligence to make such a marvelous machine (the portable recorder), and a president like Franklin D. Roosevelt who cares about preserving the songs people sing."
Listen
Listen to Zora Neale Hurston sing "**Evalina**," a song with roots in the West Indies and the Bahamas.
Town WebSite (not launched)
Google Mapsof Eatonville, FL
The Zora Festival in Eatonville, FL.
Great watch.
Kennedy traveled throughout Florida with another recordist, famed Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston. Together they visited places like the turpentine camps near Cross City and the Clara White Mission soup kitchen in Jacksonville. Hurston's book Men and Mules is about her travels gathering folklore in Florida.
Zora Neale Hurston, Eatonville, Fla., 1935.
Photo: Alan Lomax/American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
The Jim Crow laws forced Stetson and Hurston to travel separately -- he is white, she was black, and they couldn't legally work together. "You could get killed lighting someone's cigarette," Kennedy told Golding. "Or shaking hands -- both colors, white and black."
The Library of Congress recently made a wealth of recordings and pictures from the project available online. Kennedy has been called "one of the pioneer folklore collectors during the first half of the 20th century," and his work is a keystone of the library's presentation.
The project eventually documented folktales, life histories, superstitions and the religious and secular music of African-American, Arabic, Bahamian, British-American, Cuban, Greek, Italian, Minorcan, Seminole and Slavic communities throughout Florida.
One Kennedy recording testifies to how the project was welcomed by those who contributed their music or voices. "Dear Lord, this is Eartha White talkin' to you again," one recording begins. "I just want to thank you for giving mankind the intelligence to make such a marvelous machine (the portable recorder), and a president like Franklin D. Roosevelt who cares about preserving the songs people sing."
Listen to Zora Neale Hurston sing "**Evalina**," a song with roots in the West Indies and the Bahamas.
Races in Eatonville:
Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Eatonville-Florida.html#ixzz0TOvd9j0a